House Democrats plan vast oversight of Trump administration. Impeachment
is an option
[September 28, 2026]
By LISA MASCARO
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda,
with investigations of President Donald Trump, his family and his
administration if the party sweeps control of the chamber from
Republicans in the November elections.
The undertaking is as robust as it is daunting, spanning several House
committees. With majority power comes bigger budgets and staff, and the
ability to investigate, subpoena and potentially course-correct what the
Democrats say are widespread corruption and abuses of power. Impeachment
of the Republican president and Cabinet officials is not off the table.
“There is a cost to the American people of the out-of-control
corruption,” said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who is
in line to become House speaker if Democrats win control at the Capitol.
“If folks have been stealing from the American people, shortchanging the
American people or screwing over the American people,” Jeffries said,
“we are going to hold the crooks accountable.”
Congress has enormous ability to conduct oversight of the executive
branch as part of its power as a coequal branch of government, and a
road map for the Democratic-run investigations has already been set by
the almost daily letters lawmakers send to the administration and in
amicus court filings.
Democrats are asking about the money-making by Trump and his family,
whose wealth has grown dramatically since he returned to the White House
in January 2025. They are investigating the potential civil rights
violations of Americans killed protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement operations and of detained immigrants being deported to
faraway countries. They have fought the closing of the Kennedy Center,
launched investigations into private funding of the America at 250
celebrations and tracked the shuttering of federal operations, including
the U.S. Agency for International Development.
New questions emerge daily, including the Trump family’s recent
acknowledgment that a weekend wedding party for the president’s son
Donald Trump Jr. was partly funded by a Russian oligarch, with
reportedly close ties to the Kremlin.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who is in line to become the chairman of the
Judiciary Committee, characterized the issues involved as “gargantuan."
“We need to zero in quickly on the forms of systemic corruption that
have cost the public huge amounts of money," Raskin told The Associated
Press, “and where there are legislative cures available.”
Trump impeachments made history then. Could it happen again?
Jeffries will almost certainly be under pressure from the far left to
move more swiftly to articles of impeachment against Trump, who during
his first term became the first president to be twice impeached by the
House. Both times, he was acquitted by the Senate.
Impeaching the president a third time may not hold the currency that it
once did. Democrats will more likely focus their impeachment efforts on
Cabinet members. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth already faces articles
of impeachment from a Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, over
his leadership at the Pentagon and his management of the Iran war.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., talks about the
policies of President Donald Trump and Republican supporters in
Congress as he holds a news conference at the Capitol in Washington,
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“We haven’t ruled anything out,” Jeffries said recently about the
tools available to Congress, “and we haven’t ruled anything in.”
The White House is likely to play hardball if confronted with
investigations, and Democrats are bracing for an administration that
potentially ignores subpoenas or refuses to turn over paperwork that
lawmakers are demanding.
The Democrats are also reaching beyond the administration into
various corporate and business entities for potential wrongdoing.
‘We’ll act like the Congress,' says one Democrat in line to lead
a committee
Ranking Democratic lawmakers who are in line to lead committees if
power shifts are beginning to chart the investigations they plan to
tackle.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat now on the
Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has outlined five
priorities, including Trump family business dealings, the
administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and
ICE operations.
“We’re already doing work,” Garcia told the AP.
He also mentioned the Department of Health and Human Services under
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well as broader allegations of
corporate corruption.
The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep.
Gregory Meeks of New York, whose jurisdiction includes the State
Department, said the committee plans to investigate Trump's
international dealings, including around the Iran war.
He expects the committee will also look into the administration's
Venezuela operations — from the military strikes on alleged drug
boats in the Caribbean and Pacific waters to the U.S. partnership
with a private company to develop and access the South American
country's oil.
Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat at the
Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the Interior Department
and its National Park Service operations, has begun digging into
Trump's “vanity projects,” including the demolition of the White
House's East wing for a new ballroom and the president's proposed
arch.
Huffman and other committee members have also been eyeing the Trump
family's role in various minerals deals.
At the committee's last session before lawmakers recessed to
campaign for the midterm elections, Huffman said that if Democrats
take charge, he plans to call witnesses, put them under oath and
follow the evidence where it leads.
"When people ask what will we do," he said he responds, “My answer
is simple. We’ll use those tools. We’ll act like the Congress.”
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